2 Samuel 14

Revised Geneva Translation

14 Then Joab, the son of Zeruiah, perceived that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.

² And Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a cunning woman there, and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel. Do not anoint yourself with oil but be as a woman who has now mourned for the dead a long time.

³ “Go to the king and speak to him in this manner.” For Joab told her what she should say.

⁴ Then the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, and fell down on her face to the ground, and prostrated herself, and said, “Help, O king!”

⁵ Then the king said to her, “What is wrong?” And she answered, “I am indeed a widow, and my husband is dead.

⁶ “And your handmaid had two sons. And the two struggled together in the field. And there was no one to part them. So, one struck the other and killed him.

⁷ “And behold, the whole family arose against your handmaid. And they said, ‘Deliver him who struck his brother, so that we may kill him for the soul of his brother whom he killed, so that we may also destroy the heir.’ So shall they quench my ember which is left and shall not leave to my husband either name or posterity upon the Earth.”

⁸ And the king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give you a charge.”

⁹ Then the woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord, O king! This trespass is on me and on my father’s House. And the king and his throne are guiltless.”

¹⁰ And the king said, “Bring him to me, who speaks against you. And he shall no longer touch you.”

¹¹ Then she said, “Please, let the king remember the LORD your God, so that you would not allow revengers of blood to destroy anymore, lest they kill my son.” And he answered, “As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.”

¹² Then the woman said, “Please, let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the king.” And he said, “Speak.”

¹³ Then the woman said, “Why, then, have you thought such a thing against the people of God? Or does the king speak as one who is at fault, in that he will not bring back his banished?

¹⁴ “For we must die and be as water, spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet does God take away life; but He appoints means by which not to cast the expelled out from Him.

¹⁵ “Now, therefore, I have come to speak of this thing to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Therefore, your handmaid said, ‘I will now speak to the king. It may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.

¹⁶ ‘For the king will hear and deliver his handmaid (and also my son) out of the hand of the man who would destroy me from the inheritance of God.’

¹⁷ “Therefore, your handmaid said, ‘The word of my lord the king shall now be comforting. For my lord the king is as an angel of God in hearing good and bad. Therefore, the LORD your God be with you.’”

¹⁸ Then the king answered, and said to the woman, “Please do not hide from me the thing that I shall ask you.” And the woman said, “Let my lord the king now speak.”

¹⁹ And the king said, “Is not the hand of Joab with you in all this?” Then the woman answered, and said, “As your soul lives, my lord the king, I will not turn, to the right or to the left, from anything that my lord the king has spoken. For your servant Joab commanded me. And he put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid.

²⁰ “For with the intent of changing appearances, your servant Joab has done this thing. But my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to understand all things that are on the Earth.”

²¹ And the king said to Joab, “Behold, now, I have done this thing. Go, then, and bring the young man Absalom back.”

²² And Joab fell to the ground on his face and bowed himself and thanked the king. Then Joab said, “This day your servant knows that I have found grace in your sight, my lord the king, in that the king has fulfilled the request of his servant.”

²³ And Joab arose and went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.

²⁴ And the king said, “Let him turn to his own house, and not see my face.” So, Absalom turned to his own house, and did not see the king’s face.

²⁵ Now in all Israel, there was no one to be praised as much for beauty as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the top of his head there was no blemish on him.

²⁶ And when he shaved his head (for he shaved it at the end of every year because it was too heavy for him, therefore he shaved it), he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels by the king’s weight.

²⁷ And Absalom had three sons and one daughter, named Tamar, who was a fair woman to look upon.

²⁸ So, Absalom dwelt in Jerusalem for the span of two years and did not see the king’s face.

²⁹ Therefore, Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king. But he would not come to him. And when he sent for him again, he would not come.

³⁰ Therefore, he said to his servants, “Behold, Joab has a field by my place, and has barley in it. Go and set it on fire!” And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.

³¹ Then Joab arose and came to Absalom, to his house, and said to him, “Why have your servants burnt my field with fire?”

³² And Absalom answered Joab, “Behold, I sent for you, saying, ‘Come here, and I will send you to the king to say “Why have I come from Geshur? It would have been better for me to have still been there.”’ Now, therefore, let me see the king’s face. And if there is any trespass in me, let him kill me.”

³³ Then Joab came to the king and told him. And he called for Absalom, who came to the king and bowed himself to the ground on his face before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.